


Unknowingly

by d_aia



Series: Segments [3]
Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: F/F, Madame the Poodle, Roxy POV, V-day Consequences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 23:36:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3788533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d_aia/pseuds/d_aia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the end, Roxy felt she owed Madame, her dog, an apology because it really sucked to be the collateral damage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unknowingly

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Characters and locations are not mine.
> 
> Warnings: V-day and its consequences.
> 
> Last Time on Segments: (Make Him Proud:) Harry lives and Eggsy finally finds out after eight months. Merlin is a paranoid bastard, though he has his reasons and Eggsy's chip on the shoulder may be more justified than Merlin initially thought. Also, Roxy fails to complete a mission, through no fault of her own, and that doesn't make her any less of a badass.
> 
> To those who helped me, supported me and cheered me on: thank you!  
> (Deep Waters:) Roxy's dad was with Valentine, but didn't send her a memo and Roxy's next mission is to arrange it so a young billionaire is a friend for Kingsman. Arthur thinks that Kingsman needs a psychologist (with Merlin's support) and they both worry about Eggsy and a possible hack. Eggsy, for his part, has trust issues.

_BANG!_

Roxy felt the recoil, a jarring impact in her palm and shoulder. She kind of liked it. It was part of what she did and it was the part that she did well.

_BANG! BANG!_

Not extremely well, just… she was good at it.

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Eggsy had the highest scores, of course. He could also seduce the target that she couldn’t. What he wouldn’t do, was shoot his dog.

_BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Now _that_ was the part that she _excelled_ at. She could compartmentalize her feelings in order to do something she needed to do. It was something she took great pride in and she remembered her father being happy whenever she did it. Little did she know that he would compartmentalize whatever he felt for her—his own daughter, his only daughter—to… what? Take Valentine up on his offer without letting her know. Did he think she would be okay? Did he have that much trust in her? Or did he know that she would be against making people kill each other and doubted Valentine’s ability to keep her locked up? She wanted to believe the former, but her analysis of the facts lead her towards the latter. In the end, she felt she owed Madame an apology because it really sucked to be the collateral damage.

“Rox?” Eggsy called hesitantly. It was funny how he was all bustle and bluntness until she was upset about something, then he became gentle and careful. On somebody else it would turn patronizing fast, but on him—and his eager, worried puppy look—it was endearing. It helped that he talked sincerely, listened and didn’t try to fix her.

“Yes,” Roxy answered. She thought about correcting him, after all she had fought hard for the Kingsman position and the name Lancelot that came with it, but she recognized his appeal to her as a person and not to her as an agent—even if she wasn’t so sure they were different people. Besides, _he_ hadn’t doubted her qualifications for a second. So Roxy let it slide.

“Are you alright?” Eggsy hedged.

“Does this look like I’m fine?” Roxy asked, gesturing to the paper targets.

Eggsy looked and shrugged. “You were training.” He frowned. “For a zombie apocalypse. I could tell because of the unnecessary slaughter and… the head wounds. _But_ crazier things _have_ happened.”

Roxy could feel a smile curving her lips so she rolled her eyes. “Why couldn’t I seduce him?”

“You’re an intelligent, educated young woman,” Eggsy said nonsensically. “You’re a damn good agent too, but that doesn’t answer your question.” His hand fluttered uselessly. “You see, the man was an asshole. When you started talking, you lost him. He wanted a cheap fuck, something you obviously aren’t.”

Something about the matter of fact tone that Eggsy used made Roxy deeply uncomfortable. Maybe a little sad. But mostly it—along with Eggsy’s accent—reminded Roxy that there were people out there who led tough lives too. It was something she already knew, but every time it happened and she felt like the world was a much more miserable place.

“You aren’t a cheap fuck,” Roxy found herself saying. It wouldn’t realistically change anything, but just in case no one had said before. Or to show him that it wasn’t what she thought of him. Or, hell, maybe it was to make her feel better.

“I knew the type, so I made sure to look like one,” Eggsy said with a smile. His eyes travelled down his body with a leering curl of his mouth, “And to show, not tell.”

Roxy shook her head. “You were _never_ a cheap fuck,” she said with certainty.

“I looked the part a lot of times.” A smirked bloomed on Eggsy’s face. Eyes narrowed, canines shining slightly in the lights, he lazily said, “But I can definitely say, I was the most expensive one night the fuckers ever had.”

Bursting into laughter, Roxy could feel herself cheering up. She liked this casual and comfortable atmosphere that Eggsy always brought about. In the beginning, she was suspicious of it, but with time—the life and death situations they found themselves in forcing them to put their trust in each other and his act of betrayal refusing to show itself, something she now knew he would never do—she began to relax into it. “Why wouldn’t you shoot the dog?” she found herself asking.

Eggsy blinked, taken by surprise. “Couldn’t not wouldn’t,” he admitted. “Was about to shoot Chester, though, for making me kill J.B. It would probably have been useful in the long run.”

“Now, where would that have gotten us?” asked Roxy light heartedly. “Not here preparing for the zombie apocalypse, that’s for sure.” She very primly proceeded to reload and then empty the magazine into the paper target. “Wouldn’t want that,” she finished.   

*

The first night was easy. The mission was to bring the target around to have a potential ally in the form of the young, considerate billionaire, Asha Ster. Roxy was supposed to attract her attention by seducing her and gradually dial it down to a friendship where Asha would still be available for favors. The mission was easy enough—probably suggested by Merlin, she fondly sighed—but it was going to take time.

Asha was a tall and athletic twenty-nine year old with beautiful hazel eyes that were mostly hidden behind black frame glasses and lovely dark brown skin. Though a combination of guts, pure dumb luck and brilliance she gained of billions of dollars from selling software, so now she could do whatever she wanted with no company to lead and practically no responsibilities. She was the perfect ‘friend’ the Kingsman needed.

It was straight up seduction the first night, so it was exactly was she trained for. The second night she lucked out, because Asha went a little overboard with her drinking so Roxy got to play knight in shining armor and took an inebriated Asha home, where she deposited her, along with a bottle of water and an ibuprofen. Roxy made her take a couple of mouthfuls of water before disappearing for a few days. When they met again a two days later Roxy was friendly, worried for Asha, anxious to hear of her good health and after being assured of it, Roxy left with another girl to the apartment Kingsman had provided for her in the US. The forth night Roxy was invited to spend the night at Asha’s and she knew she had secured her target.  

Five days later found Roxy contemplating Asha who was slowly sipping nineteen year old scotch. That wasn’t concerning in and of itself, but it was a little too often that Asha found herself near a bottle and Roxy feared for her. At the moment, Roxy’s instincts as an agent and a human being were aligned and she felt the need to help.

Unfortunately, Roxy had a feeling that a therapist was much more equipped to handle whatever issue there was. It made her praise the wisdom of Arthur’s decision to Kingsman a psychologist, in the hopes that the future agent would be able to handle all _their_ psychotherapy needs and wish that her candidate stood a chance. He was by all accounts a good military psychologist and trained in cognitive behavioral therapy. In good psychical shape, he was a _very calm_ person, _very in control_. Only Roxy was not convinced. He could not imagine him going head to head with Merlin or Arthur or even her, hell she didn’t want to think how he’d fare against the chaos that Eggsy raised by his mere presence. Well, she did her best with the time she had.

Roxy took a deep breath. She was not the person she would choose for this. Besides the small fact of having no frame of reference for what she was about to do, she wasn’t necessarily used to help people in a way that did not involve bullets, fighting or deceit. Now, Roxy had to actually guide Asha through whatever it was that was bothering her without knowing how. Or no, wait, she could play this like a spy, could still use her skills to make Asha talk about what was bothering her. It could work; it was theoretically sound after all. Roxy hoped that this would not come back to bite her in the ass.

“Where were you?” Roxy asked making Asha jump. “When it happened—V-day. Where were you?”

Asha looked at Roxy and came closer leaving the glass on the table. “In one of his cages,” she whispered. “You?” She lifted her eyebrows inquiringly.

“Hiking,” Roxy said truthfully. “In the mountains.”

“Did you…”Asha hedged.

Roxy understood that Asha was asking her if he killed anybody in that awful way that people had nowadays when they expected the answer to that particular question to be ‘yes’, but still hoped to hear ‘no’. Of course, there was also another way to ask this question, the guiltier way in which people just wanted to find out that they weren’t the only monsters in the world. “I don’t think that I’d have had coverage even if I had a SIM, but it doesn’t really matter since I was hiking alone.” She came close to killing the man who helped stop it, though, because she was all about Kingsman—and the agency was betrayed by the people at the fucking top.

“You’d have had coverage,” Asha said with odd certainty. “And it would have been enough if one of your group have had the SIM.” She paused for a breath and pushed her hair away from her face. “I’m glad you don’t have blood on your hands.” Asha tilted her head. “It’s weird that you weren’t amongst Valentine’s assembled people of wealth, influence and, sometimes, ideas.”

Roxy hesitated, but then decided to tell the truth. It may inspire Asha. “Isn’t it weird that my father was actually one of them? Celebrating with the stepmom there in Valentine’s hideout according to the police. I must not have gotten the memo,” she snorted. Asha’s glass seemed mighty tempting. Roxy looked away. “I don’t know whether to be thankful or pissed.”

 “That must’ve been rough,” Asha said, unable to meet Roxy’s eyes. She stood up from the leather couch in front of the mantle and got around it to get to the bar and her glass.  Damn.

Hiding a sigh, Roxy buried herself in the fluffy sofa. Defeat was near. She was all honest and shit, too. Fuck it all!

“When Valentine locked me up,” Asha started, fiddling with the glass that showed the same amount of liquid as it did on the table, “I pleaded for the life of five of my friends. Old colleagues from MIT. I said I was _lucky_ and they would make _massive_ amounts of money in _due time_ and their ideas are so _great_ , but they _wouldn’t let me help_ them become known,” she looked in the glass, probably not seeing anything. “Valentine agreed. Four of them went along with the plan. Three of them helped boost the coverage.” Asha took a deep breath. “So you see, I kinda know what you’re feeling, because I just can’t decide what I’m feeling either. Betrayal and satisfaction, guilt and sadness. I just… I don’t know.

“And you what the worst thing is?” Asha said. “The worst thing is I didn’t feel like there was any lesson learned. Or any lesson I can stand to learn. I mean, that you don’t really know people no matter how hard you try, that’s a given. And I don’t think you can do anything about it, because at some point or another you must trust other people. I… I feel like there was a direction in which I’m supposed to go, some kind of purpose that I have to have after surviving this. But I can’t find it!” she yelled, tears escaping her eyes. “I can’t fucking find it,” Asha repeated.

Roxy didn’t flinch when the glass shattered against the mantle; she had expected something like this to happen.

“Like that guy, you know,” Asha said dreamily, caught in the memories. “My cell was near Princess Tilde and some explosions were heard, then Valentine was saying that he was still going to do it and the guy was saying something about saving the world. And that’s the guy that saved us in the end and saved all those people and gave the order to kill all those _other_ people. But before they got into all that, he was speaking to somebody and he was telling them to call his mother and I remember thinking that’s who I want to be.

“He had a clear purpose, to save the people. To do _that_ he did whatever he needed to and it didn’t fucking matter that Valentine had a point or that he was killing the world’s leaders and whoever the hell joined Valentine. Probably because they had made the wrong decision. What stayed with me, though, was that this wasn’t a hero or something.” Asha gesticulated wildly to show how preposterous she considered the concept. “He did all that because people he knew were in danger, but he wasn’t there to protect them—that would have been like a handkerchief over a fire hose—he was going for the source. And he killed Valentine too, in the end.” Asha stopped for a few seconds then gave a soft chuckle and said, “He was talking to somebody named Rox, if you can believe it.”

What with Asha being an unemployed, easily bored billionaire and her prowess with computers, Merlin had mostly let Roxy be herself. Only the Kingsman connection was missing, but it wasn’t going to for much longer. Arthur had given clear instructions that he expected Roxy to make a friend out of Asha by any means possible and this was shaping up to be the only way.

So Roxy gave an empty smile and asked, “Can I borrow your phone?” She didn’t want to use her Kingsman phone for this discussion.

Blinking, Asha said, “Of course.” She handed it over despite her confusion. 

“It’s encrypted?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll make sense in a minute,” Roxy promised, keeping the phone to her ear and hearing it ring. Finally, Eggsy picked up, but didn’t say anything. “Galahad, it’s Lancelot. I need a favor.”

Next to her, Asha froze.

“Oh, I heard about the mission in Boston,” Eggsy answered casually though she could hear the piece of furniture—probably a bed—that he was on creak violently. “Everything alright?”

With a smile, Roxy answered, “It’s in New York and you thought the dog was a bulldog.”

Eggsy gave a laugh. It sounded relieved to Roxy’s ears. “Anyone could have made that mistake.”

“Nobody who knows anything about dogs could have made that mistake,” Roxy rolled her eyes, making an uncertain smile appear on Asha’s face. “Pugs look nothing like bulldogs.”

“Says you,” said Eggsy sounding slightly less awake. “I was asleep and you are running a mission, so what’s up?”

“Can you repeat the favor you asked of me in Valentine’s layer?” Roxy asked looking at Asha carefully.

“Sure, whatever you need.” Eggsy could be heard drawing a deep breath and Roxy put the phone on speaker. “Rox, I need a favor. Call my mom, tell her to lock herself away from Dean… and the baby,” Eggsy’s voice cracked just like it did then. “Tell her I love her.”

Asha made a strangled noise. Eggsy’s accent was difficult to fake and the emotion in his voice even harder. She started shaking her head.

“You’re taking a big risk, Rox,” Eggsy stated. And that was one of the greatest things about Eggsy, he caught on to the general idea of what she was trying to do, but he knew that this was not his mission and would not interfere with the way she chose to run it. His sense of what was appropriate to do in the situation was more that could be said for how she would’ve reacted.

“What baby?” Asha managed to choke out.

Eggsy turned again into Eggsy-the-Earnest and said gently, “My younger sister.”

“Did she escape?” The question practically flew out of Asha’s mouth. Roxy found herself curious as well. She hadn’t thought to ask. Asha continued, “Did your mom?”

“They’re both fine,” Eggsy assured. “Though mom did put a decent sized dent in the bathroom door. Should be good for some nightmares.”

Asha grimaced. “Thank you, for saving the world!”

“I had help,” Eggsy said, managing to redirect Asha’s attention to Roxy. “Lancelot, be careful. Now I’m going back to sleep. Bye!”

“I can believe it,” Roxy said in the ensuing silence, “because I was the one who heard it in the first place.”

“You were hiking,” Asha whispered.

“After I destroyed Valentines satellite, I was left to hike for a couple of hours, yes.”

“You destroyed a satellite,” Asha was obviously trying to piece together the story.

“I was part of the team. My task was first to destroy a satellite, then to call Galahad’s mom,” Roxy agreed.

“You’re… Lancelot?”

“I am part of a secret agency unaffiliated with any state,” Roxy said calmly. “And we would love it if we could count on you as a friend.”

Asha looked unsure.

Roxy smiled and took her hand, “You said you didn’t know your purpose. I am offering one. Take it.”

Asha chewed her lips, unsure. But the decision was already made, she’ll take on this new purpose that Roxy had dangled in front of her and she’ll do brilliantly at whatever was asked of her. It made Roxy feel a bit cold when she realized that even being so truthful and open with another person, even when she saw that person manifest emotions and go through something that was obviously important to her, Roxy wouldn’t hesitate to shoot her if the time came. What did that say about Roxy-the-Human?

*

Some two weeks later Asha found her. “It’s for you,” she said and offered Roxy her phone.

Roxy frowned, but found herself hurrying towards the balcony to be able to hear. The party they were having at Asha’s penthouse was in full swing and it was loud. After she shooed away the couple currently risking their lives for a snog—seriously, they should have known better than to lean against the rail like that—she put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“It’s good that we’re looking for a psychologist, Rox,” Eggsy’s voice—complete with an American accent for whatever reason—could be heard. “’Cause I’m having trust issues.”

“I agree with the first, but I don’t understand the second.”

“This is the story of how I… deleted my… folder and after the…” Eggsy sounded like he was regretting the analogy already, “files appeared at the airport with my picture. In both my suit and my casual clothes.”

An metaphorical ice cube made its merry way down Roxy’s back. “We have a traitor.”

“Oh, but wait, the story continues,” Eggsy said with false cheer. “As soon as I got rid of the glasses, they lost me.”

Roxy shook her head even though Eggsy couldn’t see her. “You can’t—”

“I don’t know what to think, but I’m sitting here in a shirt and jeans and trainers and a pair of stolen sunglasses talking into an equally stolen phone and I’m telling you, I have trust issues,” Eggsy told her passionately, voice a tad louder.

Not again. Not—No, Roxy would focus on the present. “There are cameras in the airport, they are going to catch you stealing.”

“I was as careful as possible,” Eggsy huffed, sounding tired. “I’m hoping they won’t notice in time.”

“And you called me because… you trust me?”

“Yeah.”

“It wasn’t because I don’t know where you are or even been in the country all this time.”

“That too.”

“Eggsy!”

“What? Do you think I like suspecting Me…rlot?” Eggsy said, getting fired up all over again. “Do you think I like not knowing that I can trust Harry? So yeah, the fact that you haven’t been in the country helps. Maybe this happened because of some fuck up of mine, maybe we have a jealous colleague who doesn’t want to work with plebs, maybe it was just this once, maybe I’m not allowed to know or maybe it’s something worse. I’m becoming paranoid and I don’t like it.”

Fair enough, Roxy supposed. “So what do we do now?”

“Wait and watch each other’s backs I suppose.”

And Roxy couldn’t help but think, _‘Famous last words.’_

*

It wasn’t too hard to convince Asha to take a little vacation to Cancún. It was downright easy after giving her the Kingsman laptop with Roxy’s login to track Eggsy movements. And when Eggsy tracker stopped working, Roxy found herself _behind_ Asha who ran as if the world would end if she didn’t get to the helicopter right that second.

The helicopter in question was a beautiful custom Bell 429 which was endowed with a full tank and an unfortunately argumentative pilot. Not that it mattered. In two seconds flat Roxy had the pilot unconscious and stating the flight sequence. She was ignoring an awe-struck Asha who still clenched the laptop to her chest.

“Do you have the GPS coordinates?” Roxy asked bluntly. She felt uncomfortable and out of sorts at the possibility that Eggsy might die. Her hands were steady and the precision in her movements was still there, but she felt… off.

Asha was watching her carefully and, after having received a headset form Roxy, said, “I got the last location right here.”

“Please give it to me and go prepare a lifejacket attached to a chord,” Roxy managed politely enough.

Asha didn’t move. “Who is he to you?”

Roxy almost laughed. She knew what Asha expected to hear, that she was in love with him. But the truth was nothing as simple as that. In this world of theirs, with plots and twists and betrayals, where it could prove disastrous to move the wrong way and always the unexpected lay in the shadows, he was the one she had chosen to trust. She felt at home in this world, it fit her and her cold, uncompromising self. Roxy wasn’t sorry for whom she was and Eggsy was the one she had chosen to follow through the twists and turns. And when the family she had been given had abandoned her, this was lesson she chose to learn: he was the one she had chosen as her family.   

“Make sure it’s secure,” was all Roxy said.

Begrudgingly, Asha went and left Roxy to her thoughts. And they weren’t getting any sunnier the closer the helicopter was to Eggsy last coordinates. Minutes passed giving her a clear picture of the wreck. There was fire, and bodies, and debris, and she _refused_ to believe Eggsy might not be alive.

“There!” Asha shouted. “He was underwater. He’s…” she narrowed her eyes, “He’s signaling us while pointing a gun at us.”

Roxy laughed, “Probably because he’s not sure who we are. Lower the vest.”

Asha nodded and Roxy readied her gun. Eggsy wasn’t the only one in the dark about their identities. As soon as she heard something bump against the helicopter she whirled around with the gun cocked. She got one clear picture of Eggsy, thigh bloody holding Asha hostage with a knife at her throat, before she was back to piloting. Not twenty seconds later, she heard Eggsy speaking through her headset.

“I wasn’t sure we were on the same team, yeah?” Eggsy-the-Earnest was back with a vengeance. “Are you fine? I didn’t scare you, did I?” Roxy could imagine the charming grin decorating Eggsy face.

“Asha, Galahad,” Roxy started introductions, “Galahad, Asha. Galahad if you need the first aid kit, I’ve no idea where it is, but Asha might know.”

“Lovely to meet you, you saved my life,” Eggsy was sheepishly saying.

“We’re even.” Asha had recovered beautifully. “It’s in the back… here, let me.”

Eggsy must have nodded, because the next thing Roxy hears is Asha wondering at what had caused the wound.

“He did,” Roxy said confidently. “Had to cut out his tracker. Which means…”

“We have a traitor,” Eggsy continued tiredly.

“Who could get past Merlin?” Roxy feared she knew the answer. After all, Asha had a hard time getting in with Roxy’s info and Asha was wicked good at what she did.

“Not many people,” Eggsy sighed. “And let’s be honest, the chances of him working alone are slim.”

Roxy infused her voice with as much obnoxious joy as she could, “But at least we have each other.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you want to comment (or just talk to me) you can do it here or on my [tumblr](http://e-alexandrescu.tumblr.com/).


End file.
